The present invention relates to a clip for stopping blood circulation in a surgical operation and an assembly of such clips which, when a blood vessel is cut or sewn in a surgical operation, stops the circulation of the blood in advance of the region where the cutting or sewing of the blood vessel is carried out, and it also relates to an operating device for opening and closing said clip or assembly of clips.
It is known to provide surgical clips for securely stopping the circulation of the blood by clipping a very thin blood vessel in an intricate area to be subjected to a surgical operation. Therefore, from the standpoint of performance it is desirable that such clips be simple in construction and small in size and have a sufficient gripping force to securely stop the circulation of the blood. Further, it is desirable to provide an operating forceps capable of more easily and securely operating such clips.
Conventionally, this kind of clip has been constructed wherein clip portions having a pair of opposed surfaces are connected together by separate spring means. As is apparent from its construction, this clip has the disadvantage of being complicated in construction as a whole and the spring means lacks springiness durability. Further, this known surgical clip is constructed in such a manner that the direction in which the pressing operation is effected for opening and closing the opposed clip surfaces coincides with the direction in which the opposed surfaces are opened and closed. Thus, it has the disadvantage of having the operating point shadowed by the hand when operating the clip by the conventional forceps.
On the other hand, in a surgical operation for cutting a blood vessel, the opposite sides of the place to be cut are clamped in advance by separate blood circulation stopping clips and the cutting and sewing operation are then carried out. In that case, however, it is desirable that the blood vessel be supported in a stable manner with the cut ends of the blood vessel held opposed to each other so that said ends can be brought close to each other in the subsequent sewing operation. To this end, in addition to the arrangement of the clip for clamping each cut end, it is necessary to consider a clip connecting mechanism which is useful for adjusting the relative position of the clips and supporting them in a stable condition.
A conventional assembly of two or more surgical blood circulation stopping clips connected together comprises a pair of clips each having clip portions for stopping the circulation of the blood in a blood vessel, and an operating threaded rod which connects and supports said clips in a parallel relationship, one of said clips being fixed in position with respect to the axial direction of said operating threaded rod by fixing means, the other clip being formed with a threaded opening in which said operating threaded rod is threadedly received so that it is possible to adjust the distance between said clips by rotating said operating threaded rod. With such a conventional device constructed to change the clip distance by rotation of said operating threaded rod, however, there is the disadvantage that adjustment of the clip distance results in the torque being transmitted to the clips, causing the latter to impose an excessive force on the blood vessel clamped by said clips, thereby damaging the blood vessel.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved surgical clip having a construction adapted to substantially eliminate the disadvantages inherent in the conventional surgical clip, to provide a small surgical clip which is very simple in construction and does not need any special spring member, facilitating the handling thereof and also facilitating secondary handling including sterilization and washing, thereby improving the efficiency of surgical operation.
Another object of the invention is to provide a surgical clip constructed so that clip portions can be normally pressed against each other with a desired pressure but can be opened through a fixed angle during their operation. Thus, said clip can be brought to an area of a blood vessel where the circulation of the blood is to be stopped, so as to clip or clamp the blood vessel with a proper pressure without damaging the blood vessel, thereby improving the efficiency of surgical operation.
A further object of the invention is to provide a blood circulation stopping clip and a combination of such clips connected together by connecting means, wherein a pair of such blood circulation stopping clips are supported at a fixed position and the distance between said blood circulation stopping clips can be easily adjusted.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a connecting means capable of supporting or clamping said pair of blood circulation stopping clips in advance at a predetermined position and moving the ends of a blood vessel clamped by said pair of blood circulation stopping clips toward and away from each other by a very simple operation.
An additional object of the invention is to provide an improved forceps adapted to open and close said surgical clip and connecting clip for connecting such clips.